The Star Of War
by cooper klebba
Summary: The crystal gems were prepared for every kind of violent, powerful, merciless, mindless monster that the universe threw at them. Their next threat is violent, powerful, merciless, but far from mindless. Inspired by Acenos's drawings on deviant art.
1. Prologue

In the earliest days of humanity, when we discovered the power of fire and the helpfulness of the spear, we found out we were not alone in the universe. Large godlike monsters came almost from nowhere, destroying all human beings in their path. When it looked like our primitive race would meet an all to soon end, something saved us in our darkest days. The crystal gems, powerful beings from another world who came to earth and, for reasons unknown to us, vowed to protect it.

For most of earths life we agreed not to meddle with their private business if they didn't meddle with ours. But eventually, around the mid 40's, we grew paranoid about why they wish to protect us. Several rumors of enslaving us, exterminating us, and other horrific things started to spread among the common people of the world. Eventually the leaders of the earth decided to sit the crystal gems down and get down to the truth on a live radio broadcast.

When they found out that most humans thought that they wanted to conquer earth, the gems surprisingly didn't respond with shock and anger. In fact, they actually started laughing when it was brought up. Then their leader, Rose Quartz, ask why would immortal beings that were able to travel through out the cosmos, summon weapons from objects on their body's, and create even more powerful relics and weapons with raw materials, want to rule over a planet that, when at the time, couldn't even travel to its own moon.

While this statement seemed rude, it was true. Why would any alien race try to invade a planet so primitive. True, we have resources that might seem appealing At first glance, water, trees, metal, but those are things that all planets that need to support life haft to have, things that we humans take for granted. "The odds of anything that can travel from planet to planet wanting to spend a countless number of resources and time to conquer earth are a million to one" Rose said.

And yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast, cool, and unsympathetic, regarded our world with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.


	2. Thinking about things

** Stevens POV**

It was late at night, the stars were shining and the moon was full. I was lying on my back outside of the temple near the light house, staring at the dark sky. Pearl would probably scold me for being up so late, but I had a good reason for no going to bed. This was the time of the week where I stay up, look at the stars, and think. I usually think about the future, the gems, my friends, my dad, my mom, my powers, and alot of other deep stuff like that when I'm up here.

I don't really know why I do this, I don't even remember when I started doing this. One moment in my life i just wanted to be alone and think, and it continued from there. Today I told Garnet about it, confused about why do this, and she told me I was "trying to figure things out". I didn't understand what that meant, so now I was thinking about what Garnet said._ huh, guess I really do think to figure things out. But why can't I just ask about all this deep stuff? I'm I embarrassed? I'm I worried what they'll say? Do i hear a hissing noise?_

Just then saw a huge green glowing... Thing in sky past over me at high speed. I quickly got up to see where it was going. The thing flew over beach city and past the small mountains. I was able to see it crash because of the small green light it made when it hit the ground, then, fifteen seconds later, I heard a small noise like a firework going off. I didn't know what to do, was it something gem related, or was it something else entirely?

Then I realized how tired I actually was. Clearly I stayed up longer than I thought. So I went back inside the temple, claimed into bed and quickly went to sleep with the weird flying thing in my mind.

The next morning I woke up overhearing Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl talking about something. So I got dressed and went down to see what they were talking about. "I think its just a meteorite." Pearl said, with Amethyst quickly replying "what makes you say that, the fact thats its a giant steaming rock that fell from space."

"What are you guys talking about?". I interrupted with curiosity. They turned to me and Garnet said "a meteor crashed ten miles away from beach city". _the thing I saw last night! _I hesitated to tell them I saw it last night and reveal what I do on a weekly basis. Then Pearl said " its nothing to worry about Steven."

"We don't know if its something to worry about yet, that's why we're sending Amethyst to take a look." Garnet said. Then Amethyst grumbled "more like forcing me to look." Oh don't be like that, you'll be back in no time at all" pearl said. Amethyst mumbled something, walk towards the door and waved goodbye untill she returned.

Then pearl asked "Steven, why dont you invite Connie over, I feel like today's going to be a slow day." At that he started walking towards the phone, still thinking about the thing from space, and wondered if it was really nothing to worry about.


	3. its too hot

**Amethysts POV**

_ten miles, more like ten hundred miles._

It took an hour and forty five minutes for me to get destination, thanks to Greg driving her to the edge of beach city, otherwise it would have been three hole hours. That didn't mean the rest of the way was a cake walk, oh no, it was a torturest walk. My legs are on the Verge of falling apart, twigs and leaves are getting in my air, and my pits are so swampy that tadpoles could call it home. And all because a rock came from space and Garnet wanted to make sure it was a rock from space.

_aint it awsome to be a crystal gem?_

But the worst part about the trip was the heat. The chick on the news said it was ninty five degrees, but it felt like ninty five thousand degrees. Nothing, and I mean nothing could compare with how hot it was. You know when its so hot in your house you wish the AC could go higher, imagine that with absolutely no AC at all.

After what felt like an eternity i reached my target in a wide open field. I saw fifty or more people surrounding the rock like it was an injured child. I wondered what was so interesting about a big dumb boulder from space that the universe decided to chuck at earth because it wanted to see me get heat stroke. When I stated shoving people out of my way one person said "watch it, you filthy purple weirdo." _I save the world all the time just so you know._

I pushed my way threw the croud to the front and finally got a good look at it. _oh wow, its just as stupid and lame as I thought it would be. _besides its sheer immensity and odd cylinder shape it looked like a completely harmles rock that ran into the ground and now looks like a big red hill.

Before I could squeeze my way back threw the croud I heard something. It sounded like a cracking noise coming from the rock. I looked over it and saw that it was cracking from the inside near the top. It looked like something was trying to get out. _is this thing hollow._ Then something started to slowly emerge from the top with bits of the rockrock falling off it. Everyone, including me, got back from both the rock and the thing coming from it.

The thing, now standing upright and in clear view, wasn't a gem monster and sure as heck wasn't human made. It was large, silver, metallic, and staring down at the confused and frightened humans around me. Its body resembled a combination of a jelly fish and a UFO. Several metal tenticles came from its bottom, three of which were its legs. The front of the top had some sort of camera like object, moving around looking at everyone.

Then I noticed it was holding a strange black device the size of Gregs van in the shape of a cube. The cubes center started to glow. Then from the center of the cube a beam of white energy passed only a foot from my left.

The hot weather felt like being in antarctica naked compared to just being near the beam. It felt like I was standing on the surface of the sun. By instinct, I ran to my right desperately trying to get away from the unthinkable heat of the beam.

It All becomes a blur of chaos from there.

Screaming, fire, ash, some crunching sounds, wails of fear and agony all around me as I ran at full speed and hid behind a tree, praying to whoever was in charge up there to stop this slaughter and for me to be safe. Then, a near thirty seconds later, the screaming stopped. All that could be heard now was sound of something mechanical slowly walking away.

I leave the tree to look, only to regret it. The field was covered with ashes of the people struck by the beam. Straight lines of fire from where the beam hit the grass. I could see a total of eleven people that must've fallen and got crushed by the things claw like feet. And the metal Goliath was slowly walking away towars that cliff were Roses moss liked to go, most likely about to see the whole city

I found myself staggering away from the field, going back to beach city, and lying my back against the wall of the nearest building, trying to comprehend what had just happened without losing my sanity. Just then a bus pulled up and I decided to get on.

Two or more people ask why I look so filthy, but sweaty pits and twigs in my hair was the last thing on my mind. I tried everything to get my mind off the carnage I just saw. Trying to destracted myself, I decided this thing needed a name.

_lets see, it's big, made of metal, __**its a horrible cold hearted nightmare of**__-it looks kinda like a pod, it has three legs,tripod? Yeah, tripod will do I guess._


	4. what are the odds

**Pearls POV **

It was definitely a slow day. Connie had arrived at ten AM, and it was nearing twelve thirty PM. All three of us had finished the lunch that Steven was kindly glad to make. We were growing tired of the board game we started and decided to just talk until the others returned.

Garnet was in town asking about the meteorite and Amethyst was going to go find it and determine if its a threat or not. _I wonder where she is, she should be back by now. Knowing her she probably stopped to get food on the way._

I told Connie about the meteorite, and then she told me she heard about it on the news before she came. That's when I learned the meteorite had more story to it. Apparently the planet mars was having volcanic eruptions and the meteorite might've been a large piece of a volcano that broke off and launched itself from mars by an eruption. Not only that, the meteorite was one of six that all landed in different parts of Delmarva.

I decided now was a good time to bring up something I knew about. "Did you see the meteorite while you were thinking alone Steven". "What, how did you know I was doing that" Steven responded with shock, his cheeks slightly blushing. "Its okay Steven, Garnet told me, and its okay if you want to figure things out while you look at the night sky, many humans do that. Just be more mindful about the time, too little sleep can damage your mind" Steven simply nodded with a smile, most likely happy that the conversation wasn't as painful as he thought it would.

"Since we're talking about space can I ask you something Pearl" said Connie. "Of course you can" I replied. "Do you ever worry about another alien race invading earth?"

My hand flew to my mouth to stop myself from laughing out loud. _don't be rude Pearl, you know better than to laugh at a child. _I let out a giggle that was louder than I tried to make it, And Connie quickly noticed. "What's so funny" she asked in confusion. "Its nothing Connie, im just thinking about the real odds of that really happening" "which are..."

"A million to one" I said proudly.

Just then I heard the door slowly open. I turned my head to see Amethyst. _oh my gosh... She's absolutely filthy! _I could smell her from the kitchen. She smelt like she ran fifteen marathons and forgot to take a bath for the next five years. Her hair could be mistaken for a bush, it had twigs and leaves tangled in it. But that wasn't even the worst part.

The worst part was that she was head to toe covered in a white dust.

She slowly walked toward the couch, leaving a trail of leaves and dust, sat on the couch, and just looked at the floor.

"Amethyst, why are you such a mess! The least you could do is take a shower!" She didn't say a word, and continued to stare at the floor. This only made me more angry at her. "And how did all that dust get on you, it looks like you picked up an old carpet and used as a towel!"

Her head quickly came up, eyes wide and mouth open. She slowly looked at her arms and legs. She started quivering, then she started hipper ventilating, then she sprang up from the couch and ran as fast a she could to the bathroom. Then I heard the shower go on almost three seconds later after she slammed the door behind her.

I stood there, confused and shocked at the sudden reaction. Amethyst usually loved being messy, but this time she treated it like a terrible curse only soap and hot water could lift. I turned my head towards the children, who had the same confused shocked faces I had now.

Then the shower turned of and the door opened. It was at that moment I realized something... Different happened. She didn't take her cloths off, she didn't dry herself off with a towel, she didn't even take out the twigs still in her hair. _she was just worked up over the dust? _She walked back to the couch, sat as far away from the dust it as possible, and breathed slow and shaky.

My shock turned into concern as I walked over and sat down on the couch, not worried about the dust. "Amethyst, are you okay". She looked at me, and I swear I could hear Stevens, Connies, and my heart break. Her face was the most afraid, tortured, and saddened face that I've ever seen. And this was coming from Amethyst. Amethyst! The same girl who didn't even looked worried when her own gemstone cracked. Before I could say anything she started screaming and crying at the same time. She grabbed a pillow and sobbed in it, but it did little to nothing to drown out the noise she made.

Steven had walked up and placed hand on her back, concern on his face. "what happened Amethyst?" Steven said. "It killed them" she quietly replied. "Something came out of that stupid rock and turned all the people around into ashes" _oh dear, this is horrible. Wait. I'm I sitting on-__**oh heavens!**_

I shot up From the couch and rubbed all the ash I could off my bottom. "What came out!" I shouted, my mind still on the ash. She then described the machine she named "tripod" when a thought came to mind. A horrible thought about the tripod.

This was one of six tripods.

Then Connie, as if reading my thoughts, said "we need to tell Garnet about this!"


	5. smoking will kill you

**Garnets POV**

_at least I know its not dangerous now._

I was in the middle of town, deciding I was done asking about the meteorite. Most people didn't even know about it, luckily she eventually found someone to tell me what it was. Something about mars and volcanoes. _I should've brought Pearl, this was right up her ally. _

Now she was walking to the temple when that fryman teenager with that blog, stay weird beach city i think it was, came up to me and asked "hey, did you hear about the meteorite". "Yes, apparently it came from mars". "I'm going to go look at it, I bet it involves martians somehow, you think its a warning". "Heh, i doubt it, the odds of an alien race wanting to control earth are a million t-

**"GARNET"**

I turned and saw Pearl, Amethyst, and the children running towards me screaming for my attention. I noticed Amethyst was all wet and had twigs in her hair, but paid no mind to it, shes always making messes.

"Garnet, something came from the meteorite, it killed fifty people" pearl yelled when the group reached my spot. _huh, guess Rose was wrong._ "Where it it now" I said calmly. "We dont know" Steven said, out of breath "but we know the trpiod has a heat ray, there's six more and..." He stopped when we started to hear screaming, large metal feet hitting the ground, and some type of loud humming noise. We all looked to see where the sound was coming from.

Then I saw it, the "tripod" walking around the corner two miles away from us. It was turning people into puffs of ash with a cubed shaped heat ray and picking up the ones that fell down with its metal tentacles and placing them into a round chamber in its back. It was also holding some kind of big black stick that looked like some sort of old rifle witout the trigger.

It held the stick in the air and it shot out pill shaped object the size of a garbage can, and it landed a mile behind us into a small croud. I saw a strange black gas hissing out of four small holes on the object. Only a few seconds after the humans breathed it in, they coughed violently and collapsed to the ground dead.

The gravity of the situation finally came down on me like a pile of bricks. "Steven, get Connie to safety" I yelled. He obeyed and took Connie by the arm and ran to the nearest building. Now me and the other gems were in between a giant fighting machine and a cloud of deadly black smoke.

_This will either end really good or really bad_


	6. Connies journal part 1: afterwords

**Nine hours after the** **tripod attacked**

Found this journal, now planning to write in my thoughts during this disaster. Steven pulled me in to the nearest building named "Well of music" when Garnet gave the order. When we came in, it was empty. We saw a flight of stairs to our right and ran up them, mostly out of fear that the black gas would go through the doors. We saw three doors down a hallway when we reached the top of the stairs. Two were on the left, the bathrooms, and one was on the right, the supply closet. We went in the closet because it was closer, and found the left and right walls had boxes with the buildings logo on them, a well with musical notes coming out.

Then I Locked the door, looking back it was kinda stupid to think a wooden door would stop a giant killing machine, but it did make me feel safer. Screaming, explosions, gunfire, and the hum of the heat ray could be heard outside. I looked over at Steven, there was fear and panic in his eyes. Despite this, he tried to calm me down, even though he was the one who was panicking, while I was just scared.

Steven: don't worry Connie, it'll be okay, it'll be okay, I'm sure the gems will stop that thing. (Paniced breathing) it'll be okay Connie, dont freak out.

Me: I'm not freaking out Steven, you look like the one that needs to calm down.

Steven: (placing hands on ears, fear in voice) it'll be okay, it'll be okay, it'll be okay, it'll be-

?: (screaming, banging on door) hey, let me in.

We both jumped at that. Then we recognized the voice, opened the door and found Ronaldo at the door. Apparently he followed us in. He seamed more awed and shocked then frightened, like he saw a firework show that was better than he expected.

We waited in the supply closet until the noise finally stopped after six hours. We sat there for ten more minutes to be safe. We then quietly left the closet and looked down stairs, only to find the black smoke on the bottom floor. Smoke possibly restricted to ground level.

So we stayed up stairs looking over supplies to pass the time. We had found:

. food that doesn't need to be cooked that will last for a week.

. water bottles that will last a month if used sparingly.

. microphones and several CD's.

. Emergency radio with spare batteries.

. first aid kit.

. framed picture of building founder, Herbert Wells.

Now back in closet, waiting for gems. Trying to be hopeful.

Side Note: from what we found, building might be restraunt/karaoke joint.

**Day 1**

Nobody slept. In the morning we checked downstairs again, seeing that the black smoke turned into a black snow like substance. Cleaned it up and looked around the restraunt/karaoke joint. It had tables around, a door that led to the kitchen, a DJ spot to play the songs, and a stage for singers.

With all the courage we had, we went outside. The streets were covered with ashes, destroyed vehicles, and small flames here and there.

Ronaldo: guess the martians are invading, didn't think it'd happen so fast.

Steven: martians?

Ronaldo: yeah, that's where the meteors came from right? So those had to have the tripods in them. Its the only explanation.

Me: what happened to the one here though?

Ronaldo: look (pointing to Y shaped holes in the ground) Footprints, let's go see where it went.

Me: are you insane! that thing is killed who knows how many people and you want to find it?!

Ronaldo: what? I'm not planning on saying hi, I just want to see were it went, find out more about it. Look, I go by myself if you guys are scared and don't want to go.

Steven: I don't know, we should stay here and wait for help.

Ronaldo: whatever, I'm going, and nothings changing my mind (walks off, following the footsteps)

I wonder if its curiosity, bravery, insanity, stupidity, or all four that made him risk his life. Probably all four.

That left Steven and I alone. We tried to make small talk, crack a few jokes, but the scenery wasn't really anti depressant. Three boring hours later Ronaldo came back and told us about the tripod.

Ronaldo: it went threw the whole town. Mostly left the buildings intact. I found it at the beach, pacing back and forth, I think it was waiting for something. Then I saw a battleship coming from the ocean!

Me: what did it look like! (My fascination of boats taking over)

Ronaldo: I don't know, looked like any other battleship. It looked like it had a name on the side, "Thunder child" I think.

Steven: did the ship destroy it?

Ronaldo: no, stupid thing had a sheild, the tripod held its heat ray high in the air and shot at the ship. It Burst into flames and sank... Then the thing went back to pacing back and forth, like nothing happened.

After that crushing on my hope story, we stayed outside talking. It was easier with Ronaldo with his interest in the paranormal. Until he brought up Steven and I might haft to repopulate the earth if the martians destroy most of earths population. I didn't even need to look at Steven to tell if his face became completely red, like mine.

When Ronaldo asked the repopulating question, it was night time. We heared a hissing sound and saw another meteorite land outside beach city. Then we heard the familiar sound of a large machine moving. We all quickly went inside and saw the tripod walk past the restaurant. My mind went back to the other tripods in Delmarva. This new meteorite might not be the only one. Now wondering about what the new meteorite brought and what happened to the gems. Going to try to go to sleep.

Side Note: Ronaldo thinks we're chickens because we didn't want to die looking for the tripod. Ronaldo is really starting to get on my nerves.


	7. Connies journal part 2: something new

**Day 2**

Actually fell asleep. Was woken by Steven to eat breakfast. Me, Steven and Ronaldo ate while listening in on the radio. What we heard didn't cheer us up.

Radio broadcast: this is Orson bringing you the latest news on the Delmarva disaster, it has been confirmed that these cylinder shaped meteors are coming from mars. Last night, more came with what we can only assume is supplies. We have also confirmed that the battleship "thunder child", assigned to try and fight the martians fighting machines, has been destroyed, its entire crew now dead. A moment of silence for the the ships crew and the fallen Delmarva citizens. (Radio is silent for a thirty seconds) Until more light is shed, bring you back to your regularly scheduled program.

Ronaldo: I wonder what thier going to do next.

Steven: Who, the government.

Ronaldo:No, the martians, what's their plan? Why choose Delmarva as a target, it doesn't give them much of a strategic advantage. (Gasp) Washington DC, its practecly a stepping stone away. Their getting ready to attack Washington! Man, these things are smarter than I thought.

I think Rinaldo's took the fact Washington being close to Delmarva as a sign these things are actually intelligent. If you ask me, I don't these things are highly intelligent. These martians are animals, children who made a magnifying class and decided to use it by burning bugs. Obviously these things shot the meteors blind, and they landed in Delmarva by coincidence. But if you know Ronaldo, you know he always thinks there's something more to something.

A short time later, we heard a small notice coming from the door, and to my relief, Stevens joy, and Ronaldos surprise, it was lion. Having lion was a good thing. Steven seemed alot happier and now we had a fast get away if the tripod found us.

At noon, after we had lunch, Ronaldo said he was going to look around town. Steven wanted to go as well, wanting to prove to Ronaldo he wasn't chicken. I decided to also go, not wanting to be alone. Taking lion with us,We left and heard strange noises coming from acorn park, beach city's residential park. when we got there, we were speechless.

The tripod was outside the park looking over some kind of martian construction project, new machines were there as well. The first two were caterpillar like machines tearing down the park. It somewhat resembled a bull dozer as well, plowing the grass and tree stumps out of the parks grounf. They also had three tentacles on its back, the one in the middle was a buzzsaw like device to cut down trees, and the other two were claws that would hold the tree so it wouldn't fall on anything important when it was cut, then place it gently on the side.

The other two new machines were spider like and had losts of claw tentacles coming from its back. They both looked like they were building something that looked like a different type of tripod.

But the thing that made us speechless were the things walking around the park, bringing metal crates to the spider like machines, unloading them, and handing pieces to the metal spiders.

The robots creatures were humanoid, had Grey skin, a white circle on its chest and back, another smaller white circle on its forehead, and cold black eyes. But the creepiest part was how they acted. They all had the same facial expression, a small smile. They worked without any break and at the same pace, like the machines around them. Sometimes, we saw them bring out strange syringes with red liquid and inject themselves with it. Both Steven and Ronaldo thought they were martians, while I believe that, for some odd reason I had a feeling these things weren't the ones piloting the machines.

Something else caught our eyes, a large orange-red gemstone the size of a bolling ball held by one of the Grey creatures. My remember Pearl saying that a crystal gem was assigned to scout mars for life named red coral, and never returned.

We left later that afternoon, wondering what the martians were making.

Side Notes: we still don't know what happened to the people the tripod took during its first attack. Going to look for more survivors tomorrow.

**Day 3**

Something huge happened today.

We all left early in the morning to look for survivors, and found more than we asked for. When we reached the boardwalk, we saw Lars and Saddie running from a new tripod. It had the gem from yesterday and was using it as an eye. Connected to the gem was a large, egg shaped head. Its legs seamed more pointy and not smooth like the others, and seemed to walk more restricted. It was smaller than the other tripods, but that didn't make it less scary. Green steam was coming out of its joints and such, like the way a teapot would steam when it was ready.

Lars tripped and got grabbed by the gem tripod. Saddie was screaming and Lars was panicking in its grip as it held Lars up to its gem/eye.

Then, without warning, Steven ran up to it and screamed.

Steven: Hey you (lifts up shirt and points to his gem) look, I'm a crystal gem!

The gem tripod looked at Steven and froze, even the tentacles stopped moving when it spotted Stevens gem.

Steven: My friends, other crystal gems, told me about you, how you were a gem like me. I know for a fact deep down you don't want to do this. Please just stop this, the other gems might be able to help you. You can help us stop the martians. Please, we need you, you haft to remember being good, you haft to re-

While Steven was talking to it, the gem tripod started shaking. The steam was now out of control, making loud whistling sounds. Then, before Steven could finish trying to bring the gem tripod onon our side, its gem cracked and the egg shaped head exploded. The gem turned a Grey/red color, its tentacles going limp dropping Lars who fell to the ground and ran towards us, then the gem tripod fell to the earth with a loud crash.

We stood there, looking at the fallen titan that had green flames coming from what was left of the egg shaped head. Then Steven fell to his knees and started crying. I walked towards him and simply gave him a hug, unsure what to do. We left the wreckage and brought Lars and Saddie to the well of dreams. We talked about what to do next. We decided we should lay low, only leaving for food and water, and wait and see what would happen.

Side Notes: Stevens worried about the gems, and hopes they're okay. Started to notice red weeds growing around, most likely martian related.


	8. Connies journal part3:plant the town red

**Day 4 **

When we all woke up, beach city was completely covered with red weeds. Everything from the buildings to the other plants. Why the martians are making the weeds is unknown.

With Lars and Sadie added to the group, our food supplies are becoming low. We learned that the red weed is edible though, so its not much to worry about. The red weed has a strange metallic taste, like when you put coins in your mouth, but food is food. We would later regret it.

After we ate lunch, Steven got up and said he needs to go and find the gems.

Lars: have you lost your marbles Steven, those things are gonna cook you like a turkey if they find you.

Sadie: Lars is right, your going to get yourself killed.

Steven: listen, a had a dream last night and i think it was the gem tripods spirit showing me her past. that thing that blew up yesterday was a crystal gem named Red Coral that was sent to mars to find life. The martians captured her and put her a gladiator arena where her was forced to retreat into her gem. They were saving her for the invasion so they could turn her into a monster, and I'm not going to let that happen to my friends. So I'm gonna rescue the gems, or become a tripod trying. Come on lion. (Lion approaches Steven)

Me: wait, I'm coming too.

Steven: really? Thanks Connie, that means alot.

We both rode lion to the most likely place that the gems were taken, acorn park. We were surprised by what we found. The tripod wasn't there, and the caterpillar like machines weren't there. The only things that were there was the humanoid martians, one spider like machine, and three new dormat tripods.

Even from a distance, I could tell which tripod was for what gem. They seemed to mimic the gems appearances. Garnets body structure, Amethysts shortness, and Pearls pointed head. Then we saw a container being carried by one humanoid martian that had their gemstones.

Before we could come up with a plan to get the gems, we heard Sadie calling frombehind. Apparently she felt guilty about letting us go alone and decided to join the rescue mission. We decided that Sadie and lion would destract the spider machine and the humanoid martians by attacking them while me and Steven would get the gems.

It started when lion jumped on top of the spider like machine and started to claw at it. Then Sadie ran towards the humanoid martian nearest to the machine and stabbed it with a wooden spear she made earlier.

The others quickly noticed and dropped what they were doing, including the container, and tried to stop the two. Something I must mentioned is that they didn't stop smiling, except the one that got stabbed.

Steven and I bolted towards the container and Steven picked it up. We turned towards the Sadie and lions location and saw that they'd destroyed the machine and killed five of the humanoid martians. They saw us grab the container. Saddie got on lion quickly and they ran towards us. We got on and left as fast as lion could back to the well of music.

Later that night, after we got the gems out of the container and ate more of the red weed, we heard the tripod outside. Outside the window we saw it pull out a man from the container on its back, drop him on the ground, and stab it with a tentacle before he could get away. The tentacle remained in him for a minute, him getting pailer and pailer. Then we saw the tripod pull out a strange device on one of the tentacles that looked like a weapon. The tripod started spraying a red spray with the device at the red weed, which started to grow when the spray hit it.

It wasn't long until we put two and two together. We all ran towards the bathrooms and puked for five minutes. Probably not going to sleep tonight.

Side notes: Steven says it might take awhile for the gems to regenerate. Sadie looked threw my journal and pointed out I spelled her name wrong last entry, now slightly embarrassed.

**Day 5**

Ronaldo was right and I was wrong. Oh so very very wrong.

It was morning when we heard the tripod. We all hid from the windows. Then we heard the tripod stop right out side the building. The door bell dinged, meaning something came inside. With all the bravery I could muster, I peeked over my hiding spot, a turned over table, to look at what came in. It was like watching a car crash, I wanted to look away but couldn't.

The demon monster nightmare martian that had been piloting the tripod was by far the ugliest and most horrific creature I've ever seen. Its body wasn't even a body, it was giant head with red vains that could be seen. It had a darker shade of grey than the humanoid martians. It had red eyes and a horrid fleshy beak in the shaped ov an upsidedown V. It also had tentacles of its own as well. When it moved, it was slow and restricted, and it looked liked it took some effort. I suspect this is because earth has a stronger gravity than mars. But its movements also seemed very flowing and smooth, like water. Its like it adapted to the gravity and now calculates every motion.

It was looking around, most likely for us, when it spotted the radio. It walked slithered towards it, examined it, and turned a knob, turning it on. It seemed slightly surprised by the music, when another broadcast came on.

Radio broadcast: this is Orson bringing you the latest news on the Delmarva disaster. We have discovered that most of the Martians have converted towards Delmarvas center. They are now constructing what looks like metal manta rays. We can only assume that the martians are building air crafts, to fly across the world. Also, three of the fighting machines have stared to move towards Washington DC. Washington is now preparing to defend itself from the martian attack. The man in charge of the defending assures us that the martians are outnumbered and outmatched, and that its only a matter of time before they realize this and come out waving the white flag in defeat.

For some reason this made the martian mad. It picked up the radio, made a loud screech, and threw it at the nearest window, breaking both the radio and the window. The martian stood there for fifteen seconds, then went out the door. I went back behind the turned over table and listened until the sound of the tripod faded into silence. Sighing in relief, I walked away from my hiding spot to inform the others it was gone. Then I completely froze up. Outside the doors was the martian staring through the glass, staring straight at me.

I had no idea what to do, my body was frozen with pure fear. The martian opened the door and slithered towards me, making a strange noise that sounded like a rattle snake before it struck its prey. I started to cry, trying desperately to get my body to move, to scream, to do anything but stand there and wait for what ever this thing was going to do to me.

Then I heard Steven run towards the martian with a fork in his hand. Before it could react, Steven stabbed it with the fork in its right eye. It screeched in pain, it pulled out the fork and lett dark green blood squirt out of it. Then Lars came in hit it on the left side of its head with a chair. It fell to the ground going unconscious. The rest of the group came out and looked over the now passed out creature.

Me: ungly brute(still frozen in fear). What an ugly, ugly brute.

Lars: at least we stopped it.

Steven: what should we do with it?

Sadie: I still got a pionty stick, let's kill it.

Ronaldo: wait! We shouldn't kill it

Lars: why the heck not?!

Ronaldo: because we're going to win this war. the radio said the martians will loose, and we're gonna need a living one to study and find out how they work. So let's just put this guy in the closet, that way it won't hurt us.

That's what we did, putting it in the closet and putting the most heavy stuff we could find in front of the door.

I realize that the martians are truly highly intelligent. Just this one was smart enough to realize someone was destroying the machines and stole the gems, smart enough to realize that someone was in the building, and smart enough to put the tripod on auto pilot to full me into thinking it left.

We looked out side to see the tripod standing inthe distance. The martian most likely set it up to go an exact distance so that when it was done it could go back to the fighting machine and continue its work.

Ronaldo was right about the martians strategy, but he is wrong about the army being able to stop them, had he forgotten about the shields the fighting machines had and the fact one could take over a whole town in a day and could destroy a battleship with one shot. This isn't a war, no more of a war between man and ants. The entire planet is doomed. These martians will probably take us as pets or servants. The only thing to do now is to continue writing until we are eventually caught by the martian search party looking for their missing comrade that we had in the closet.

Side Notes: unsure about what the humanoid martians are now, Possibly slaves or a lower class of martian. Started to notice the red weed getting pailer, most like because its not getting fertilized with blood.


	9. Connies journal part 4: poetic justice

**Day 6**

The others are getting desperate for ways to beat the martians, even though fighting is pointless and winning is impossible.

Lars: there's a tripod outside, let's try to control it or something. Mabye we could try to disassemble it and make our own tripod, beat them at their own game.

Sure, let's try and pilot an alien vehicle that was designed for a being with the body structure of an octopus. Better yet, let's use are sudden knowledge of the machine and tools that we don't have to breakdown this fighting machine so we can build an amateur tripod and watch it blow up as soon as we turn the key.

Sadie: those tripods that the martians made for the gems are still at acorn park. Mabye we could put them inside the machines and try to make them come to our side.

Yeah, look how great THAT turned out when Steven tried to help that Red Coral gem.

Ronaldo: we've got one of them trapped in the closet, we could interrogate it and find out their weaknesses.

The rest of us reminded Ronaldo that the martian doesn't speak English. Plus, seeing that the martian is pounding at the door and screeching at the top of its lungs, my guess it would rather bite our throuts out before giving up info.

Steven: we just need to wait for the gems to come back, they'll know how to stop the martians.

Yeah, like how they stopped the tripod from killing half the people in beach city and most likely using the other half as fertilizer.

The groups thinks I'm becoming bitter, depressed, not hopeful that things will get better, that we will win the war like the radio said. But I see the truth better than anyone in this dead city. This is not a war, this is an extermination.

Side Notes: ran out of food today, others will look for more tomorrow. Red weed getting more pail from not being fertilized.

**Day 7**

Even as I write this down hours afterwards I can't believe what's happened.

The others were going to leave to look for food when we all noticed the red weed had turned white. We went out side to find out what had happened to it. I picked up a weed, it field dry as a bone. We concluded that the red weed had died over night.

Before we could look around for food Steven spotted another tripod walking down the road, most likely searching for our captive. Our first instinct was to hide, but then we noticed something odd about this tripod. It was slower than usual, and its tentacles were limp. It didn't have the heat ray or the stick device that made the black smoke, and it seemed wobbly, unable to keep balance. Before we could do anything, it actually fell over and its camera like device connected to the front that we determined to be the cockpit landed five feet from us with a loud crash.

We were completely still, unsure what had happened and what to do next. Then the glass in front of the cockpit slid open, and we saw a martian crawl out, fall to the ground trying to stand, and making the most violent coughing and wheezing I've ever heard. Eventually the coughing lowered in volume and the creature made one final try to get air in its lungs before it went limp. This martian was now lying in front of us, eyes open, mouth oozing out dark green blood and what can only be described as flem, dead.

At that moment, my mind finally cracked. I started to laugh , it started out small, not even audible, but soon became so loud that the martians on mars could hear it. Everyone looked at me shocked, then smiled and laughed uncomfortably that was drowned by my insane asylum worthy laugh. Then I fell to my knees and started crying, sobbing, and balling my eyes out with the same volume. How would you react to seeing an unstoppable force cause countless chaos and death without taking a scratch suddenly fall over like its was made of sticks.

I felt arms wrap around me, and heard Steven trying to calm me down, whispering that everything was okay. For a solid five minutes I cried a deep cleansing cry and, surprisingly, I actually felt somewhat better. After my crying stopped Steven asked me if I was okay, I replied by forcing out a yes through the knot still in my throat. I wiped the tears and snot off my face while we went back inside the building.

We all just sat at a table, speechless about what just happened. Then the reason the martian died it hit us like an anvil. These things came from mars, they haven't lived through earths plagues and diseases. Their immune systems weren't ready to fight the foreign bacteria and were helpless to combat it. These beings, after beating the unstoppable crystal gems, destroying a battleship and who knows what else, died at the hands of the smallest, humblest, most insignificant lifeforms on earth.

Poetic justice at its finest.

Side notes: bet the gems are going to be surprised by this. Starting to feel hopeful again. Heard small noises from the martian in the closet, but it didn't sound like coughing, it actually sounded like crying. This will be my last entry in my journal.


	10. epilogue

**Stevens POV**

This was the time of the week where I stay up, look at the stars, and think.

It was about two weeks after the martian invasion came to a sudden end. Everything went back to normal rather quickly. We cleaned up the dried up red weed, examined the dead martian bodys, broke apart the martian machines and put them in museums, morned our dead, and moved on with our lives.

I was relieved to find out a good portion of beach city's citizens actually survied. When the tripod attacked, everyone on the boardwalk found out by seeing the building sized titan and people running for their lives. Everyone got to the boats and went to find help and warn the world.

That being said, its still kinda weird seeing everybody act like nothing happened. I can understand gem monster because the earth was used to that by now, but an alien invasion? Lars and Sadie seem a little jumpy, but they still act like normal. Ronaldo seemed okay, now spending all his free time at the museum looking over every singal martian device. Connie was still pretty messed up, and telling me she still had nightmares, but she was getting better.

The ones that were taking this the hardest were the gems. They all felt horrible about failing to protect earth, saddened when they learned the body count, and even somewhat embarrassed that bacteria managed to defeat the martians while they couldn't stop one tripod. And me bringing up what happened to Red Coral didn't raise their spirits. But they were impressed when I told them I stabbed a martian in the eye.

I was also surprised to find out the scarred martian that was in the closet didn't get sick. When the gems and i went to the well of music and opened the closet, the martian didn't put up a fight. It didn't look angry or bitter, it looked broken and ashamed, as if it somehow knew the invasion failed. After giving countless tests to find out how smart it was, the governmant Decided that it was only fitting for the martian that attacked beach city should be punished IN beach city. Now its in a cage at the newly planted acorn park, constantly being yelled at, insulted, and pelted at with rocks, tomatoes, and whatever people could get their hands on. I can under stand why everyone is mad at this creature, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor thing. Especially since beach city is now getting more tourists than ever, all of which just want to give the martian a hard time.

We don't know if a second wave of Martians will come, and we don't know exactly how we will prepare. We don't even know how the scarred martian is still alive.

_Im just thankful that is all over now._


End file.
